286 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



est vocal ijerformances is a loud and prolonged outcry consisting of a suc- 

 cession of henlike cucks, given rather slowly and at nearly regular intervals, 

 and frequently ending with a harsh, drawling kee-ar-r, krie-ar-r. They 

 have other calls so numerous, complex and variable that it is difficult to 

 describe them brieily and at the same time adequately. Sometimes they 

 give four or five loud, harsh screams very like those of a hen in the clutches 

 of a hawk, but uttered more slowly and at wider intervals; sometimes a 

 series of sounds closeh' resembling those of a brooding hen when disturbed, 

 but sharper and lotider, succeeded by a number of lower, more querulous 

 cries inteimingled with subdued clucking; occasionalh' something which 

 sounds like kr-r-r-r-r, kruck-kruck, krar-r, kb-kb-kb-kb-kea-kea, delivered 

 rapidly and falling in pitch towards the end. Shorter and more frequent 

 utterances are a low kloc-kloc, or kloc-kloc-kloc and a single explosive kup 

 very like the ejaculation of a startled frog. Nearly all these cries are loud 

 and discordant and most of them are curiously henlike. [Bird-Lore 4, 2, 50]. 



Fulica americana Gmelin 

 American Coot 



Plate 27 



Ftilica americana Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1788. Ed. i. 2:704 



DeKav. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 272, fig. 233 

 A. O.'U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 221 



ju'lica, Lat., coot (from sooty color); amcricd'na, of America 



Description. Under plumage very dense for aquatic life; toes with 

 large rounded flaps or lobes on each joint; nostrils linear. General color 

 dark slate, the head and neck nearly black, the back tinged with olive; 

 marginal under tail coverts, edge of wing, and tips of secondaries white; 

 feet olive-green; bill whitish, the frontal shield and spot near the tip deep 

 reddish brown ; eyes red. 



Length 13-16 inches; extent 23-27; wing 7-8; tail 2; tarsus 2-2.2; 

 middle toe and claw 3; bill, without frontal shield, i. 25-1. 6; weight 16-20 

 ounces. 



The Coot is a common transient visitant in the marshes of New York 

 State but is much less common in the spring than during the fall migrations. 

 It arrives from the ist to the 20th of April and passes northward from the 



